Today’s scripture: Luke 15:1-10 (ESV-text and audio) (KJV) (The Message)
As you read, consider: What might God be saying to me in this passage? Summarize your thoughts in a sentence or two.
My thoughts (Tom Chittenden):
One of the things about this loving congregation for which I am most grateful is the freedom to share Truth that I receive through conversations with God that may not fit “in the box” of what is traditional teaching. To read a passage of Scripture and meditate on it, asking, “What might God be saying to me through these words today?” has been one of the ways I have been brought into a closer relationship with God.
Conventional teaching has typically interpreted these verses as Jesus’ way of lovingly and creatively instructing those who would become His disciples to be proactive in “seeking the lost.” But during a recent meditation on these verses I heard the Voice For Love, God’s Holy Spirit, clearly impressing on my heart something I needed to have reinforced in my life. Here it is:
“You have not ever been separate from Me, except as you have created that thought or illusion in your mind in order to give yourself the experience of being what you are not. In addition to that, you are not separate from one another either. You have created that reality by your own devices to support the belief that I favor one over the other, individually or collectively as a nation of people.”
Men and women, serving as emissaries of Light (who have been on their own personal spiritual journeys of transformation, as well) have caused you to find peace and love and oneness as you are taught the Truth of who you are and why you are here on this earth, at this time.
As the Light of Unconditional Love (which you are in your true essence) is caused to shine into the hearts and lives of one another, the sense of “being lost” of “being separate” from Me, from one another, dissolves and is gradually replaced with the Truth. This Truth sets you free from fear and free from wandering aimlessly, believing yourself to be lost.
This incredible miracle of LOVE is recreated every time a follower of Christ awakens another from the illusion of being separate. The Truth, your Truth, has always been available to you, but layers and layers of doubt, limiting beliefs, and rigid doctrines have hidden from you the reality that you never have been lost or separated.
So Love — God’s unconditional Love — causes you to repent or become aware of Truth. It changes your thinking and your feelings about who you are and changes the way you relate to one another. When this happens, all the inhabitants of the spiritual realm rejoice that another of God’s children have come home.
And isn’t that what we ALL truly want. To go home…
Thought for the day: “I once (thought) I was lost, but now I am found. I was blind, but now I see.” Amazing — the grace of God’s unconditional Love!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the guidelines on the How to Pray page.